High-end home entertainment movie server company Kaleidescape has announced a new partnership with NexGuard, integrating the Kudelski-owned content protection company’s forensic watermarking solutions across its hardware.

The agreement will help ensure that content released via Kaleidescape’s exclusive Movie Store service — which offers early release, 4K, and HDR-enabled titles from major studios — is better protected against piracy, according to Cheena Srinivasan, founder and CEO of Kaleidescape.

“Content protection, copy protection, and anti-piracy measures that we implement set the highest bars for premium content,” he said in a statement. “With increasing customer appetite for theatrical content at a premium price, it is important to offer a higher degree of assurance to content owners. NexGuard provides exactly what the content owners are seeking to deter piracy at its source, and to continue to grow our high-quality movie service offerings.”

Kaleidescape’s Movie Store offers more than 11,000 movies and 2,000 TV seasons to hardware owners, and the company’s servers and players are geared toward high-end home theater systems and projectors.

“It’s no secret there is a direct correlation between the freshness and quality of content on the one hand and piracy threats on the other. It is down to the entire industry to join forces and fight back,” said Harrie Tholen, managing director of NexGuard, said in a statement. “Forensic watermarking, which acts as a deterrent for would-be pirates, has a very important role to play in supporting high-value content deals.

“Through working with innovative companies such as Kaleidescape, who provide consumers with a premium home cinema experience, we are looking forward to protecting the new era of early release home entertainment.”